The EU Commission will “fight” to make European institutions more racially diverse, its spokesman has said.
In an interview with France24 on Monday, Margaritis Schinas was challenged by the left-wing state-owned news channel on a lack of racial diversity in European institutions, the Commission’s plans for a bloc-wide migration policy, and on the treatment of illegal immigrant “children” in Greece.
Noting the death of American George Floyd, protests against which have sparked weeks-long protest and violence in cities across the West, interviewer Catherine Nicholson lamented that Europe has not yet appointed a black commissioner.
She added that less than five per cent of Members of the European Parliament come from a non-European racial background.
Schinas said that EU nations have “a strong tradition of protecting minorities”, but noted that Brussels’ “competition-based” system for selecting commissioners makes it difficult for ethnic groups to have representation exactly equal to their demographic proportions.